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CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIES are soft, thick, chewy cookies that are rolled in red & green sprinkles. These are some of the easiest Christmas treats to make and they look so festive and cute!
My teenaged daughter and I do a big cookie baking day every December.
Last year, we pumped out 7 different types of cookies and then we ate them until we were sick, packaged up the rest, and delivered them to friends, family, and neighbors.
It’s a fun day and I’m so thankful that I’ve taught that kid how to cook and bake. She’s a whiz in the kitchen and I could not do it without her!
She’s totally taken after me in liking simple treats that are still festive, but not a ton of work. We both agree that cut out cookies are cute, and we make a batch every year, but about 10 minutes into decorating them, we are bored and ready to move on to something that doesn’t make our hands cramp. 😉 (We make these butter cookies and cut them into Christmas shapes. They’re THE BEST cut out cookies.)
Enter these festive little sugar cookies with sprinkles. They’re adorable, but they’re easy. That’s a win in our book.
How to make sugar cookies with sprinkles:
We like soft, thick sugar cookies for this recipe and we really love that this recipe requires ZERO CHILL TIME to make that happen.
This comes together like any other cookie dough:
- Beat together the butter and sugars. Stir in the egg and vanilla.
- Beat in the dry ingredients.
- Roll into balls and then roll the balls into sprinkles.
- Bake until they’re just set. Let cool and dig in!
We use sanding sugar here and I did two bowls – one red and one green.
I like to use a cookie scoop to get evenly sized cookies and then roll each scoop into a ball. Divide the cookie balls into 3 sections and dip one section in the red sprinkles, one in green, and then combine the red and green and dip that last batch in that.
The combined red and green sprinkles are my favorite. So pretty!
These are so easy, but they look really special in your cookie tins.
More holiday recipes:
Like I said, we bake A LOT of Christmas treats this time of year. Fudge is certainly a favorite and we love my Oreo fudge, cookie dough fudge, and chocolate peanut butter fudge.
As for cookies, we are sure to bake snowball cookies every year. These double chocolate chip cookies are so festive with red and green m&m candies. And pretzel button candies are probably our favorite easy treat of all!
Christmas Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons red sanding sugar
- 3 tablespoons green sanding sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes with a stand mixer. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until very well combined.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined and the dough comes together.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to drop balls of dough on the prepared baking sheet, about 1-inch apart. Roll each piece of dough into a smooth ball.
- Place the red sanding sugar in a small bowl and the green sanding sugar in a second small bowl. Divide the cookies into 3 sections and roll one section through the red sugar and one through the green sugar. Combine the red and green sugar and roll the remaining cookies in the sugar.
- Lightly flatten the tops of the cookies and bake for 11 minutes or until edges are turning golden and tops are just slightly underdone looking.
- Cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Debbie P says
This is my Grandson’s favorite cookie- I make it for all different holidays I just change the sugar colors. Thank you!
Karly says
That’s a great idea!
Alexis says
I want to make these cookies for Christmas should i use salted or unsalted butter
Karly says
We always use salted butter.
Brittany says
I loved this recipe so much! Only thing is I couldn’t get them to roll into a ball so we just dropped them and mixed sugars into the mixture!
Casey says
Followed this slowly and to the T and checked multiple times and u can taste the salt and aftertaste baking powder.
Karly says
Oh, I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this one. We haven’t had that issue ourselves. 🙁
Karyn says
The videos from your site never show up. All I get are pictures. ?????
Karly says
Hi Karyn! That’s strange as they seem to be working fine on my end. When you scroll past the video, it should pop out over onto the right side of your screen. An ad will usually play before the video, but once that’s through you’d get the video. Are you sure you’re not just clicking out of it when you see the ad?
Karyn says
The videos from your site never show up. All I get are pictures. ?????
Lynn H says
What size cookie scoop? Small (#40)? Medium (#24)? Large (#12)?
Thank you.
Karly says
Oh, that would be helpful info for me to include. Haha! I just updated the post – I use a medium scoop.
Rita says
Can I roll the dough out and use cookie cutters?
Karly says
Hi Rita! This dough won’t roll out well. I’d recommend my butter cookies for cut out cookies. They’re the best cut out cookies!! 🙂
judith judge says
IN THE DIRECTIONS IT SAYS TO ADD SPRINKLES TO THE FLOUR BUT I DONT SEE SPRINKLES IN THE INGREDIENTS
Karly says
Sorry about that! No sprinkles get added to the dough. 🙂
Kathy Kelman says
Could there be another sweetener that is not sugar? I would not want to make these, and I hope you will return to your wonderful low carb recipes again soon. (Thanks)
Karly says
Hi Kathy! I’m still sharing low carb recipes over on thatlowcarblife.com. I no longer create new low carb recipes for Buns In My Oven. You could use any 1:1 sweetener you like for these cookies.